Brother, set to deploy, surprises sister at career fair

Amn. Nate Swiger will spend two years at a base in England

Airman Nate Swiger, 19, hugs his sister, Bekka Swiger, 16, at Spring Grove High School on Monday. His sister's birthday, April 7, is the last day he will be in the states before leaving for RAF Mildenhall in England where he will be stationed. (Clare Becker - The Evening Sun)

Nate Swiger and his sister, Bekka Swiger, catch up for a few minutes at the Spring Grove High School Career Fair on Monday. (Clare Becker - The Evening Sun)

Bekka Swiger will turn 17 in one week.

She doesn't have big plans to mark the date — just dinner with her parents and older brother, Nate, 19, an airman who will deploy the day after.

Nate Swiger will spend two years at RAF Mildenhall, a base in England, and Bekka's not sure if she'll see him during his deployment.

"I'm in denial," she said.

She calls her brother her best friend. There are too many stories from their childhood together to tell, Bekka said.

The youngest of four, she remembered being ganged up on while playing a game she and her siblings used to call "bank and robbers," and the time that Nate threw a football attached to a string at her. But the string broke and she ended up with a bloody nose.

Nate Swiger enlisted in the Air Force last September after graduating from the York County School of Technology. Since then, he's been stationed at bases in Texas and North Carolina. He made it home once at Christmas.

When her brother is gone, "I kind of block it out. I don't know how to explain it," Bekka said. "I get a little upset," but "I'm not going to tell him about it."

It's a family tradition to enter the Air Force, Nate Swiger said on Monday, as he worked a recruiting booth at a career fair at Spring Grove Area High School. His father and grandfather were both members.

But while waves of kids entered the gym, Nate looked for one student in particular, Bekka, who is a Spring Grove Area High School junior.

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When one group made their way to the back of the room toward Nate Swiger's booth, a girl with brown curly hair split from them, walking quickly toward him. She threw her arms around him in a big hug — Bekka.

Although Nate arrived home earlier this week, it was a surprise to see him at her high school, she said. And each moment counts.

"Every time I see him, it's shocking," she said.

It's hard to know that he's leaving, but Bekka said she's proud of what her brother is doing: "I've told everyone about him."

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